Most states have a strict judicial code of conduct that limits the political activity of sitting judges, making the election of state judge’s nonpartisan and low key. A Supreme Court decision, however, will probably transform them into big-money contests that resemble partisan political races with lots of special interest money.

The justices let stand a lower court’s free-speech ruling in a Minnesota case that eliminates rules–in effect in most states–that forbid candidates for judgeships from personally soliciting money or from identifying their political party affiliation.